What are some good books to learn about China from the 1900s+?

by electrictaters

I know this is a non-specific question. I recently came across a book describing their Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and realized that I don't have any understanding of the circumstances leading to it. Mao was a bad guy, and I'm embarrassed not to know the details. What are some good sources to learn more about China's history that lead to this revolution, and everything after?

Side note: Why the heck is this not part of American history classes?

wang78739

Ooooh! Man there are so many good books on this topic ( since so much freaking stuff happened)!

Since the question really broad I am going to split it up by general events that you can delve into more detail with either the books I suggested or just general events to look up (admittedly some of these books are pretty thick)

I’m also skipping quite a bit of detail, and limiting myself to one or two books per broad event.

Bold are ones that you REALLY need to read (personal recommendation) , since they are excellent (many other historians refer to them in their own writing) and they are probably easier to find in a local library.

Also the documentaries China: Century of Revolution (which is on youtube yay!) are a great place to start if you want to focus down on which periods of Chinese history you are interested in and really well done. You might want to watch them first before delving into the books.

General overview of Chinese History:

  • The Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 - 2009 by Jonathan Fenby

Empires Dowager Cixi and Fall of the Qing Empire:

  • Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang

  • China's Last Empire: The Great Qing by William T. Rowe

1911 (Xinhai) Revolution and Sun Yat Sen/the founding of modern china:

  • very good movie on this, unfortunatly it is in Chinese. If you can find an English subtitled one, Watch it!

  • Sun Yat-Sen, Nanyang, and the 1911 revolution / edited by Lee Lai To, Lee Hock Guan.

Chinese Civil War: part 1 (1927-36) / part 2 (1936-36):

  • Haven’t really found one I really like here, sorry! very interesting events here and honestly i just prefer the documentary here with real people involved-

Second sino-japanese war (aka China in WW2 ):

  • China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival by Rana Mitter

  • Hong Kong, Empire and the Anglo-American Alliance by Andrew J. Whitfield (cheating a bit here with China and England but whatever)

Mao (in general):

  • Mao: The Unknown Story by Jon Halliday, Jung Chang

Mao’s Great leap forward/ Great Chinese famine (stuff right before CR):

  • Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962 By Yang Jisheng ( MUST READ! On my list of best books read ever and pulls no punches when it comes to the absolute tragedy that occurred. Also the book is banned in china :P)

  • Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62 by Frank Dikötter

Cultural revolution:

  • Ten Years of Madness: Oral Histories of China's Cultural Revolution By Jicai Feng

Mao’s death Gang of four, Deng’s rise to power / Tian ansen Square massacre:

  • Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China by Richard Evans

  • Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life by Alexander Pantsov and Steven I. Levine

Ending off in 1989, since past this while loads of stuff happened after here, this post is really long... plus the impact of Deng pretty much extends to the 2000 and beyond anyways.

Hope I didn't scare you off with the number of books and stuff :P. Chinese history is just very interesting!

Edit: Formatting so it is somewhat readable.

DeSoulis

As always, I recommend The search for modern China by Jonathan Spence. It covers the period from 1800-1990. Starting from 1840 or so is much better than 1900 because you need to understand the late Qing dynasty and its struggle against internal rebels like the Taiping and external threats like the Opium wars to understand 20th century China.